Award-winning music video and features director Paul Boyd (I, Challenger, We Are Gathered Here Today) returns with the horror-comedy Scared to Death, which arrives in theaters this Friday (March 13), distributed by Atlas Distribution Company.
The film stars Lin Shaye, Bill Moseley, Olivier Paris, Victoria Konefal, B.J. Minor, Jade Chynoweth, Rae Dawn Chong, Lucinda Jenney and Kurt Deimer. It held its world premiere at Popcorn Frights Film Festival before screening internationally at FrightFest Glasgow, earning warm reviews along the way, with FilmHounds describing it as a “fun-filled screamfest” and The Hollywood News calling it “a solid comedy horror that is sure to put a smile on the faces of its audience.”
Blending horror, humour and moments of grounding emotional vulnerability, Scared to Death follows a group of filmmakers who attend a séance at an abandoned children’s orphanage while researching a horror project of their own. Before long, a series of increasingly strange and unsettling events begin to unfold.
Scared to Death will open in limited theaters across the United States on March 13, 2026. In anticipation of the release, CinemaChords sat down with Boyd to discuss the film’s mix of scares and comedy, its playful skewering of on-set dynamics in the filmmaking world, and the balance between heartfelt sincerity and genre chills. The conversation also touches on some of the personal experiences that informed the project, including Boyd’s time living in a house where his family experienced unexplained paranormal activity that would later shape aspects of the film’s premise.
